Coldhearted by Maddyson Ruby
Pairing: Paul/OC
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit from this. All characters you recognise belong to Stephenie Meyer.
Sequel to Hotheaded! I recommend you read that before this one to avoid any confusion.
Chapter 1
Simone Lahote was a beautiful young woman. The youngest child of Paul Lahote and his fiery wife, Alejandra. With her curly tresses the colour of dark cherry, she had her mother's hair. Her eyes however, were the deep brown of her father; a fact that he was notoriously proud of for she was the only child of their brood of seven to inherit his eye colour - the rest of the seven had their mother's brilliant blue eyes. Simone was petite - strong but petite. Standing at only 5'5" she was the shortest of the Lahote brood. Many would construe this as weakness but Simone was anything but weak. She was fierce like her mother with her father's temper; a combination that could prove to be menacing if in the right situation. As the youngest of the Lahote siblings she was the outlet for their protective instincts. At around nine years younger than her eldest brother, Caleb, she was the baby of the family; despite being fifteen.
Her eldest sibling and brother Caleb was the reason for their outing. They - Alejandra, Maya, Cassidy, Simone, Reilly and Shaniqua - were in Seattle. The group of women were dress shopping for the imminent wedding of Caleb Lahote and his imprint, Reilly Ateara.
Simone didn't understand all the pomp and materialism involved in a wedding. What was the point in so much pointless decoration? As far as she was concerned as long as the people you loved and cared for were there and you were getting married for all the right reasons, you didn't need anything else. But that was just her opinion.
"What about this one?" Shaniqua offered, gesturing to a strapless, knee length dress. It was white and pretty in Simone's mind; what more did you need?
"I don't like that shade of white" Reilly commented, her nose scrunched up in concentration.
What was the difference? Simone thought to herself. She looked at the dress and then at the other white dresses in the store and could not see any difference at all in terms of colouring.
Suddenly, Reilly gasped and ran to the opposite side of the store. She held a delicate dress with a sloping neckline. It was beautiful.
"I wanna try this one!" she said with almost childlike enthusiasm. Still, Simone didn't see what all the fuss was about - it was just a dress!
When Reilly came out of the dressing room even Sims had to admit that she looked very pretty, almost like a princess.
After another hour of bridal shopping Simone had reached the end of her tether. She had no desire to spend more time examining identical shades and patterns to find the illusive 'perfect' one. If they were the same then how could one be any better that the other?
"Can we go home now?" Simone said with a whine. For such a pretty girl she didn't care too much for appearance. Perhaps that was a flaw but still, Simone didn't care. Eventually, the woman conceded that considerable ground had been made with their trip. Alejandra was weeping silently in the backseat of the minibus. She was constantly thinking over her eldest son Caleb's wedding and whether it was the right choice. The saying 'A son is a son until he takes a wife, a daughter is a daughter for life' - she was terrified about losing her son.
The xdrive back to the indian reservation they called their home was a long one. Sims found herself bored most of the time with nothing to really hold her interest. A light whoosh from the seat in front of her drew Simone's attention. She looked up to see Maya and Cassidy throwing a small fireball between them. Her mom was too occupied with her own thoughts to really pay any attention to them.
Paul and Alejandra Lahote were both very gifted in terms of supernatural talents. Paul was a shapeshifter descending from an ancient chieftain by the name of Taha Aki. Paul's wife and imprint, Alejandra was pyrokinetic and recieved her powers through a car accident caused by her now vampiric ex-best friend, Bella Cullen.
Simone's brothers, Caleb, Elijah, Roran and Isaac were all shapeshifting wolves, innately designed to take down vampires. Cassidy had Alejandra's powers and was especially proud of this fact. Maya was different to Cassidy - she was fireproof. she could feel heat but didn't burn. Simone however, could do none of this. In terms of powers she was useless. The most interesting thing about her, in her own opinion, was her talent for art - drawing, painting, sketching, she loved it all. Of course her family didn't see this as overly special and insisted that she took self-defence classes and all different types of martial arts and kickboxing. Gymnastics was the only athletic thing she actually chose herself. That was the reason Sims was a black belt in karate and intermediate in kickboxing. Gymnastics was a secret love of hers, the bars and mats being a place she could escape into her own world of floor routines and dismounts. It gave her a time and place to think too. That was something highly precious to Simone Lahote. Their outing in Seattle was a rarity for her; her family seemed to see her as something desperately in need of protecting. She didn't see it like that. At fifthteen she desired independence; freedom was all she wanted. She didn't get it.
Simone was pulled abruptly from her thought by Shaniqua Ateara, who was driving, letting out a screech so loud it hurt her ears. Sims strained to see what the corruption was before the minibus lurched to the side of the road crashing into the barrier at the side of the road and flipping over into the brush beside the forest.
The car settled upright and it was quiet for a moment as all the women absorbed the events that had transpired moments before. Just as Simone was about to demand answers a thud sounded on the roof. There was a momentary pause before a metallic groan sounded from above her. Within seconds the roof of the minibus was gone. The removal of the roof reveal a male figure staring down at them with cold red eyes. His skin a deathly pale as he looked around the shell of the vehicle with a startling intensity.
"Going somewhere?" he asked menacingly. Simone cringed back into the seat for comfort. She didn't know what it was but something about the man unsettled her.
"Leave!" Alejandra growled with a feral glare. She was a mother protecting her young and was not to be messed with.
"Hmm... I don't thinks so" he said with a smug grin. "Food in a can - delicious" he smirked down at them sarcastically. Maya let out a growl of pure anger; glaring at him furiously. She stood slowly and tremors made their way down her lean frame. Just as the tremors began to blur her form she leapt at the man.
So... what do you think? I need opinions desperately! Please review this! I will be updating when I can but the next week is really, really busy for me but after that everything slows down for the summer and I can write tonnes more for you guys! Also vote on my poll, really need you input!